Mwah mwah and mystery weekends

It's a funny old world when you rush into a garage on a sunday night to get some petrol after a long drive in the pouring rain, to walk straight into an ex-date starting back at you from the front cover of Hello! (9th Jan version, essential reading if I say so myself). There he is, staring back at me, having married a stunning actress from Holby City and standing next to his long time buddy, James Blunt. Bugger. Where did I go wrong?

Having now acquired an 8 year old step child, a 'stunning cottage set in the heart of the Cotswolds' (note addendum 'which the loving couple bought soon after they met') HELLO, who on earth buys stunning cottages in the Cotswolds soon after they meet? Lets think a second, ok, friends who've invested in houses within 9 months of meeting boyfriends who are now married....yep, there is one - Mils. Aha! a theme is developing - this is clearly where I've always gone wrong. Instead of jetting off to foreign climes to save the world as a jungle bound youth worker, I should have invested in a 3 bed tumbledown cottage by Easter last year with Hugo.

Other news seems to be plentiful, following the very exciting recent engagements of Miss Lizzie and Miss Katherine; there are 9 babies due from friends of mine between March and July; one of my best friends in the world is in the heady process of falling in love (which I'd like to point out, according to my then 6 or 7 year old brother goes like this: woman finds herself walking through dark forest with pine needles cushioning the mossy path, humming gently to self & not looking where she's going. Suddenly she finds herself falling into a deep dark pit, swallowed up by the dank earth. After falling for what seems like an eternity, she is caught in the arms of the man who has been waiting for her all her life, et voila! she has just 'fallen in love'. Happy ever after. I was relived to grow up and find out I didn't need to invest in any body padding incase the man happened to be looking at his watch or something the very moment I landed. Anyhow, I divulge.

Other tremendously exciting news is that I'm being whisked away to a Top Secret Location with packing instructions that include: warm waterproof jacket, hiking boots, swimming costume, wooly jumper and thick socks. Sounds suspiciously like a weekend at home in Scotland coming up - put your bets on and I'll tell all on Monday.

So, it's all love and goey bubble wrapped hearts in the world at the moment, which is nice when the bigger picture is looking as bleak as ever: Israel preparing to nuke the living daylights out of Iran; the US launches air strikes in Somalia and tensions rising to red-alert between Japan and North Korea. It's nice to have a bit of love when everything else seems on the verge of self destruction, or MAD (jamie, are you impressed that I'm linking things again?)

One more final thought before I go back to Irvine for my third and final rabies jab, is that having recently experienced two sleepless nights where I've allowed my brain to go in circles ad infinitum I've come up with a theory on insomnia and survival of the fittest. Basically, occasionally I have insomnia quite badly - e.g. I only fall asleep after dawn. I then feel rubbish the whole of the next day and then panic the next evening that it's going to happen again. (which it hasn't yet). Insomnia is a rubbish thing to have. But, as I drive quite a bit, having insomnia adds significantly to my chances of having a crash. And if I have a crash and kill myself, then I don't pass on my insomnia, and being not one of Darwin's 'fittest', I then leave the world a healthier place. Just doing my bit.

I did have more to write, but I'm feeling the love, and have to go and pack my wee bag for my mystery weekend now. As for Oli and Miss Holby City, massive congratulations to them and I really hope it's not the last time I read about friends and ex boyfriends getting hitched in glossy magazines - you should try it -it really puts a smile on your face.